


Shedding

by DictionaryWrites



Series: Cardassian Diff Design Garak [2]
Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Bathing/Washing, Interspecies, Interspecies Relationship(s), M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-05
Updated: 2014-09-05
Packaged: 2018-02-16 04:54:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2256591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DictionaryWrites/pseuds/DictionaryWrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The more reptilian design is something of subspacecommunication's creation. </p><p>Cardassians shed their skin, now and then: it's a mostly private affair. Julian helps Garak all the same.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shedding

**Author's Note:**

  * For [subspacecommunication (nattherat)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nattherat/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Reptilian Garak & Julian (NSFW)](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/71430) by subspacecommunication. 



“Odo, have you seen Garak today?” Julian asks as he sees the other man in the corridor, and Odo looks at him for a few moments, raising his hairless brows. 

“He's _ill._ ” Odo says, with some sort of amused significance, and then he walks off without a goodbye. Julian frowns slightly, and when his shift ends he makes his way quickly enough over to Garak's quarters, concerned.

They are  _ lovers _ , after all – one might expect a note or something from Garak elucidating on his condition. Especially given that Julian  _ is _ the lead medical man on the station. He presses two slim fingers against the button at the side of Garak's door.

The response is a hissed grumble and then a “No, _ thank _ you.” Ah. Garak doesn't want any visitors, then.

Julian uses his medical override code and moves inside.

“My good Doctor Bashir, do you understand the concept of a locked door?” Garak asks, and Julian looks at him. Garak is naked: Julian isn't unfamiliar with this. In fact, he's rather _fond_ of Garak's naked form, in one way or another, but Garak doesn't usually look like this.

Grey film comes off him, half scratched away all over his body, and Julian sucks his teeth – he knows that Cardassians shed, of course, but he'd never actually  _ seen _ the process before. Cardassians are rather  _ private _ about it, likely due to their increased vulnerability.

“Oh, Garak.” Julian murmurs quietly. It's hot in Garak's quarters – it always is, made to be more humid, made to be a bit warmer. Garak is freezing on the station, most of the time, and it's not as if he can hide it, as Julian has seen the thermal accoutrements on the inside of all his jackets. “Shedding, are we?”

Garak is laid over his couch, comically spread-eagled on his front with his back to the hair, his tail irritably flicking and constantly shifting. He looks deeply uncomfortable, constantly wriggling a little in his place: it must itch something  _ awful. _

“ _We_ are not shedding, Doctor. Your method of shedding is quite different to my own – I believe the term is “dandruff”?” Bashir snorts, undoing his jacket and putting it aside before reaching out, dragging his nails over the skin. Garak lets out a guttural, juddering moan, and his back arches up into his hand.

“Dandruff isn't quite the same but yes, our skin constantly regenerates and replaces itself. We don't have scales.” Julian murmurs, and he moves to settle beside Garak, reaching out and scratching over the skin with his nails. “Why didn't you tell me?”

Garak lets out another of those choked moans, and he  _ trembles _ beneath Julian's hands. “Keep touching me,  _ yes _ , agh, keep doing that-” Garak keens, and Julian feels the slightest twinge of arousal – even in the context, when Garak looks mildly less attractive than usual, that sort of desperation is  _ very _ interesting. “And-  _ ah _ , because, my dear doctor, it is a pri-i-i- _ iv-ate  _ affair.”

Julian draws his hands back and says, “Ought I go then?”

Garak's angry hiss affects Julian with another quick  _ thrill.  _ ”Doctor Bashir, do you exist only to  _ tease _ and  _ torture _ me?”

“If you want me to continue, Garak, I suggest you remember your manners.” Garak lets out a growl and looks at Julian with a fiercely vicious expression. Julian raises an eyebrow and keeps up the eye contact, refusing to look away. There is a lengthy pause until Garak's tongue darts from his mouth, tasting the air. “Why don't I run you a bath? We'll share a bath together and get much of those off.”

Cardassian shedding does not last long, only a few days, so Julian has been told, but he wants to make this as comfortable as possible for him. 

“A bath would be acceptable.” Garak says grudgingly, and Julian finally breaks his gaze to go and run one. Garak's bath is a ridiculously and obscenely decadent affair, comfortably big enough for he and Julian at once. Julian makes it hotter than he personally likes, because Garak would call lava “just the right temperature”. 

When Garak finally moves into the bathroom he is hunched slightly, and his grumpiness is so  _ adorable _ that Julian just has to smile. Garak, judging by his expression, barely restrains himself from snarling at his “dear doctor”. “For what reason,  _ pray _ , are you smiling like that?”

“Because your bad temper is a bit cute.” Julian says, and Garak slithers into the hot water, regarding Julian with something of a moue. Which is, of course, _even cuter._

“I am not _cute_ , Doctor Bashir. I am ill.” 

“Of course.” Julian says, and he begins to strip off his clothes. Even in his bad temper and state of shedding, Garak watches Julian's body with an affectionate fascination, which is- well. More than _slightly_ gratifying, in truth. He does not argue that Garak is not _ill_ as such, but instead slips into the bath water with Garak.

The water is just a little too hot, and he lets out a little hiss of sound before sliding forward. He puts his hands on Garak, and he begins to scratch and scratch with his nails, neatly trimmed as they are, at the uncomfortable skin.

Garak washes Julian's hair, sometimes. He finds Julian's hair, soft and thick as it is and of a different texture to Garak's own, pleasant to the touch. He is very gentle, too, and Julian minds not at all performing actions like this – he enjoys helping Garak. 

Garak lets out a soft groan, his eyelids fluttering shut, and the skin comes away. The new scales beneath are softer than usual,  _ pleasant _ , and Julian finds he likes the feel of them. They will remain soft for a week or so, and then they'll harden up, just like his usual scales. Garak's tail wraps around Julian's thigh, keeping him close as he continues.

Julian continues, and he slowly moves to work on Garak's back instead – Garak's tail loosens its grip around Julian's thigh, but it does not release him. Garak wants him close, wants to  _ keep _ him close despite his being in a vulnerable state, and Julian appreciates that.

Garak's tail is thick, warm: it feels good wrapped around Julian's leg. It always does. Julian keeps an eye on his arms, too, watching the way he's moved to grip at the sides of the bath, holding tightly enough that his claws press against the curve of its edge.

By the time Julian has gotten the most of the raised skin from the other's body, the hot water is covered with a film of flakes, and Julian tries to stand. Garak tightens his grip on Julian's thigh, affecting him to fall against Garak's chest.

Garak wraps his arms around his body then, looking at him with something  _ possessive _ shining on his face.

“Garak, the water is getting cold.” Julian murmurs, and he strokes Garak's throat with the backs of his knuckles, feeling the sensitive flesh palpitate beneath his touch. This is an _intimate_ action, he knows – if he did this in public, people would be disgusted.

But they're not in public, and when he touches Garak like this his breathy noises are almost like purrs.

“ _Getting._ ” Garak repeats, strategically. “Doctor, I wish to remain here.”

“Very well. I do _not._ ” Julian says, and he extricates himself. Garak relents this time, releasing Julian with a reluctance that actually makes the doctor feel somewhat warm inside. “I'll brew some tea.” He murmurs.

Garak is out of the bath by the time Julian returns with tea, so Julian settles naked in the living room instead, and Garak moves to join him. He lays his head in Julian's lap, his chin on the doctor's left knee. Julian sips at his tea.

“Pet my neck.” Garak says and then he adds, almost cautiously, “Please.”, as if a hint of politeness in this situation would set a standard Garak is unwilling to keep up. 

Julian begins to stroke the skin there, still soft, with his index and middle fingers in slow, gentle circles. Garak  _ shudders _ and his tail curls: he becomes a limp mess where he sprawls atop Julian, enjoying his warmth, enjoying how Julian touches him.

“You are an admirable professional, Doctor Bashir.” Garak says, and his voice is low, sleepy: he'll doze off like this with the itchiness mostly sated, and Julian smiles as he sips at his tea with his spare hand. 

“Am I?”

“Oh, hush now.” Garak says, scolding him lightly. “I shan't stroke your ego just because you're stroking me.” He laughs a little, and he begins to stroke down Garak's back, the movements slow, rhythmic, easy.

Garak begins making breathy noises again: he falls asleep purring.

Julian carefully sets the cup aside, now empty, and puts his hand spread on Garak's shoulder, letting his head tip back. A nice  _ nap _ together – it's easy to doze in Garak's quarters, for the sake of the warmth there, and it's especially easy to doze when Garak is on top of him.

Julian opens one eye at a nudge to his wrist, and he watches the end of Garak's tail curl around his wrist, and he concentrates on that, on the weight of Garak's head in his lap, on Garak's right hand curled around Julian's knee.

Oh yes, he thinks. It's easy,  _ comfortable _ , to sleep like this.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Just a reminder that my Tumblr user is also dictionarywrites, [commissions are open](http://dictionarywrites.tumblr.com/post/95787169223/check-me-out-on-ao3-my-writing-tumblr-or), and I'm currently running a giveaway. The first prize is a 7500 word fic of your choice from me, the second is a 2000 word piece, and the three runners-up are 500-750 word short fics.  
> [ Here is the link.](http://dictionarywrites.tumblr.com/post/95584589483/thats-right-folks-hi-there-im-dictionary) The draw is going to be on the 15th of September.


End file.
